The addition of Dr. Wallingford to the medical staff will allow Mayo to expand access to Counseling Program mental health services throughout the hospital's service area. Dr. Wallingford, the only full-time psychiatrist in Piscataquis County, will be seeing patients at Mayo's primary care physician offices in Dover-Foxcroft, Dexter, Guilford, Milo and Corinna on a rotating schedule.

He will be providing psychiatric medication management and supportive therapy for adults over the age of 18, including geriatric patients. Appointments with Dr. Wallingford may be made by calling 564-4567.

Wallingford's appointment marks a return to the Mayo system, where he worked as a family practice physician at Dover-Foxcroft Family Medicine from 2002-2003.

"As a family practice doctor, I saw the need for mental health services in this rural area," said Wallingford, and he began thinking about obtaining specialized training.

Since leaving Dover-Foxcroft in 2003, Wallingford has completed a three-year residency in general psychiatry at the Harvard South Shore Psychiatry Residency in Brockton, Mass. He was Chief Resident in the Administrative/Outpatient Service while working at the Boston VA Healthcare System in Brockton.

"Chip" Wallingford is a Maine native who grew up in Lincoln and Rockwood, and graduated from Greenville High School in 1989. His father, Dr. Richard Wallingford, Jr., is an optometrist.

Wallingford earned his B.S. in microbiology from the University of Rochester and received his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1999. He completed his internship and residency in family medicine at the Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice Residency in Augusta, and is a diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Dr. Wallingford and his wife, Heather, have a one-year-old daughter, Izabella. An outdoorsman, Dr. Wallingford enjoys whitewater kayaking, skiing and hiking, and is a Maine Guide.